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// Chapter 2 
// Story: Unexpected Relations 
// by Edward256 
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It had been about half a year since Saffron Mango and Bon Jour met, and it seemed as though the bullies had all but forgotten about them. For a time the school tried splitting the foals into two classes to better accommodate them, and Saffron and Bon Jour were relieved to not be in the same class as the bullies.
Saffron Mango decided to get out of the house that weekend to try out some tricks on her scooter. At least, that was what some called it; it was basically a wooden board with four wheels and a raised handlebar attached to the front. Her mothers had given it for her some birthdays ago and she quickly discovered she could use her wings to gain even more speed than by simply kicking at the ground. Mastering the scooter was an on-going challenge, however, because she was self-taught, and the endeavor came with bumps, bruises and scrapes. She was glad for the helmet her mothers had given her alongside the scooter.
As she sped through town looking for something to flip her scooter over she spotted Bon Jour.
"Bon Jour!" called Saffron, as she slowed down to a stop beside the unicorn.
"Oh, hey Saffron!" replied Bon Jour with a squeak in her voice. "What's up?"
"Oh nothing special. Just riding on my scooter a bit. What about you?"
"Just going to Sugarcube Corner for something sweet. Wanna join me?"
"Sure! Sounds like fun."
They headed off together toward Ponyville's famous bakery, where a friend of Bon Jour's older sister worked. Upon arriving they saw that Sugarcube Corner was decorated with streamers and balloons.
"Hey look! It looks like there is going to be a party," noted Bon Jour.
"What luck," said Saffron Mango. "Wonder what the occasion is?"
"You never know with Chantilly."
Chantilly was the friend of Bon Jour's sister who worked at the bakery. She was always coming up with new and interesting treats that were the reason the place had become so famous. She also had a knack for organizing parties for any and every occasion, even going as far as making up a holiday just to have an excuse to scratch that "throw a party" itch. While her efforts were definitely appreciated they were sometimes a bit too much, especially if she was trying to get the whole town to celebrate somepony's first kiss.
As they stepped inside, they saw treats decorating the tables and caught the smell of something burning from the kitchen.
"Seems like somepony's stressed if they forgot something in the oven," said Saffron Mango.
"Guess it is going to be something big," said Bon Jour. "Let's have a seat and see where it leads."
Before long Saffron and Bon Jour were hiding under a table as it turned out the guest of honor was Classic Rose who had recently gotten her Cutie Mark. So many ponies had arrived by that point they could not get to the exit without being seen and teased for not having Cutie Marks. They were now convinced they were the only two in their school who had not gotten theirs yet.
"Well, this sucks," whispered Saffron Mango. "There is nowhere we can sit and hide our flanks."
"And we can't get to the front door, the kitchen, or the stairs to Chantilly's room," whispered Bon Jour.
"Nor to the stairs to the basement. It seems like we'll have to hide here throughout the whole party."
"And we won't be able to grab anything more without ponies noticing. I'm actually getting--"
Bon Jour's thoughts were interrupted when she noticed a table with a bowl of punch scurry across the floor for a few feet before settling down a moment.
"Hey, Saffron, look," whispered Bon Jour as she motioned with her hoof, careful not to draw any attention to them. The table they had hidden under had a tablecloth that only reached halfway to the floor allowing them to see some of the party if they were pressed close to the floor.
"Huh. Did Chantilly make a wandering table to make sure everyone got a drink?" asked Saffron Mango as a pony leaned over the now stopped punch bowl and took a sip.
"If so, then why is it heading for the exit?"
The scurrying table stopped right next to the front door, and an earth pony filly got out from under it. She was about to head out when she was stopped by a larger earth pony.
"Sandwisp! You made it!" said the larger earth pony in a southern drawl, pushing the younger one back into the shop. "After Ah heard about your friend's new Cutie Mark, Ah was 'fraid you wouldn't show up. Ah sure am glad you came to your senses about this all Cutie Mark thang. These things happen when these things are supposed to happen. Tryin' to rush it will jus' drahve you crazy. Ah'll let you be. Looks like your friends wanna talk ta you."
Bon Jour and Saffron Mango watched as the big earth pony kept on walking up to the counter while the filly struggled to get around her and reach the exit.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" asked Bon Jour.
"Yeah, that pony is pretty strong, not to mention oblivious to what is going on with the filly," said Saffron Mango.
"No no, not that. Her flank," Bon Jour pointed with her hoof. "It's blank."
Saffron Mango only now noticed as the other filly, known as Sandwisp, quickly pulled a tablecloth off of a table and wrapped it around herself as a makeshift dress. Just then the bullies approached her.
"Well, well, well. Look who's here," said Classic Rose in a haughty tone.
"Nice outfit," mocked Tower Gray.
"Jus' someth'n' I, uh... pulled together last minute," said Sandwisp with the same southern drawl as the older pony from earlier.
"It really shows off your Cutie Mark," said Classic Rose. "Oh, wait. That's right. You don't have one."
Bon Jour noticed what was happening right away and gasped. "Saffron, they are picking on her because she doesn't have her Cutie Mark!"
"Those no good rotten ponies," said Saffron as her anger rose, but then she stopped. "But it looks like she's managing to handle it."
Indeed, Sandwisp was managing to convince them she had gotten her Cutie Mark earlier today.
"Oh really?" asked Classic Rose. "Let's see it."
"Ah shouldn't. Ah couldn't," said Sandwisp after a moment's thought. "Mah Cutie Mark is so unb'lievably amazin'. Ah'm afraid that if I showed it off, ev'ryone would start paying attention to me instead of you. Outshined at your own Cuteceañera? Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be?"
"Uh, forget it. I didn't really want to see it anyway."
"Okay! Well, Ah'm gonna go mingle. Enjoy your party!"
Saffron and Bon Jour looked at each other with mild surprise.
"She managed to pull it off," said Saffron. "If she's lucky, she'll be able to get out of here pretty soon."
Just then Sandwisp stepped onto the tablecloth she was wearing and stumbled right into the record player, cutting off the party music. This, of course, brought all eyes onto her. Not only that, but her tablecloth had fallen away revealing her bare flank.
The bullies were quickly on her again, laughing.
"Wow, that is an amazing Cutie Mark," said Tower Gray sarcastically.
"Nice try," said Classic Rose, "blank flank!" they said in unison.
After a moment of laughter, almost everyone there was chanting "Blank flank" towards Sandwisp. Saffron Mango could not hold it in any more. She knew she had to do something. She had to stand up to this filly.
"You got a problem with blank flanks?!" she heard herself shout. Bon Jour looked at Saffron in surprise, but realized she was feeling much the same: something had to be done.
Once the attention was now on the table and the face peeking out from under the tablecloth, they both emerged fully from their hiding spot, and Saffron repeated "I said, you got a problem with blank flanks?!"
"The problem is, I mean, she's, like, totally not special," replied Tower Gray.
"No, it means she's full of potential," said Bon Jour, coming up to Sandwisp's side.
"It means she can be great at anything," said Saffron Mango, coming up to Sandwisp's other side. "The possibilities are, 'like, endless'," she said, mocking one of the bullies' voices.
"She could be a great scientist," suggested Bon Jour, "or amazing artist, or a famous writer. She could even be mayor of Ponyville some day!"
"And she's not stuck being stuck-up like you two," said Saffron, which earned a giggle from everypony.
"Hey!" protested Classic Rose. "This is my party, why are you two on her side?"
"Because," said Saffron Mango, and both her and Bon Jour raised their rumps to each other.
Sandwisp was not sure what was going on until she noticed what she was actually looking at, and she gasped. "You don' have your Cutie Marks either?! Ah thought Ah was the only one!"
"We thought we were the only two," said Saffron.
"I for one think you are three very lucky fillies," said a unicorn, walking up to them. Bon Jour immediately recognized her as the new librarian who had moved into the town library not too long ago. She was also the one who ran off with her older sister and defeated an evil alicorn on her first night in Ponyville.
"Lucky? How can they be lucky?" asked Classic Rose, narrowing her eyes in disgust.
The unicorn librarian took a moment to give the bullies a look before answering "They still get to experience the thrill of discovering who they are and what they're meant to be."
"And they've got all the tahme in the world to figure it out," said the earth pony who shoved Sandwisp into the shop earlier on. "Not just an afternoon," she added, looking sternly at Sandwisp with a smile.
"Wow, Sandwisp," said one of the guests.
"Do you really think you can be a mayor?" asked another.
"I wish I could be a scientist," said another.
"Maybe I got my Cutie Mark too soon?" said yet another. One by one the guests were now huddling around Sandwisp, Bon Jour and Saffron Mango.
"Hey, what's everypony doing?" protested the guest of honor. "This is my party, everypony's supposed to be paying attention to me!"
Her words were lost to the crowd's focus on the three blank flanks. When the crowd began talking amongst themselves, the trio turned to each other.
"Name's Saffron Mango."
"And I'm Bon Jour."
"Sandwisp."
Once they got some space and the party picked up again, the three of them went off to an unoccupied table to get to learn more about each other.
"So Ah was thinkin'," said Sandwisp. "Now that we're friends..." Sandwisp stopped herself, realizing what she had said. "Ah mean, we are friends, right?" She looked over to Saffron.
"How could we not be?" replied Saffron. "We're totally alike. We don't have Cutie Marks, those two drive us crazy," she pointed a hoof at the two bullies who were halfway up the stairs and watching the party with sulking expressions on their faces.
"Totally crazy!" squeaked Bon Jour. They all laughed at the statement.
"Well, now that we're friends," repeated Sandwisp, "what if the three of us work tagether ta find out who we are and what we're supposed to be?"
The other two looked at Sandwisp, one with concern, the other with surprise.
"Ooo! Ooo! We could form our own secret society," suggested Bon Jour.
"I'm liking this idea!" said Saffron, now fully on board.
And so they formed their little club to try to discover their talents together. This meant Saffron got out of the empty house more often, especially on the weekends when she was alone at home for the whole day.